Chapter 22: New Friends

"Did...did she just call your name?" Emilia was just as stunned as Amun was. The last thing any of them was expecting, while thousands of miles from home, was hearing his name called to him. He did not answer the queen, he only stared back at the small woman that he only moments ago, had grasped within his claws. He was sure the action would have sent the small human into a fear induced panic, causing them to stay in their tiny jeep. He guessed he was wrong.

Amun took a few steps back towards the woman, watching as the pheromones around her swirl with yellow, black and green. It seemed that her emotions were just as jumbled up as his currently were. As he approached, he noticed that she still took a few steps back in fear of his towering figure. He didn't blame her. So when he was close enough, he lowered himself down to the ground on all fours, attempting to seem smaller and less intimidating.

"Amun?" Emilia called to him, not really understanding what he was doing.

"It's ok, just give me a moment. Keep the hive hidden in the trees, out of the sight of any satellites." He could feel her silent agreement before he heard her footsteps disappear behind him. He wanted to stay and see just how this human knew his real name. He was not sure if it was a bad thing, or good. So he waited, calmly near the ground, for this woman to make the first move.

He watched as her pheromones changed through a whole display of different colors, it reminded him of rainbow cotton candy. Eventually, a soft blue took over, telling him that she had calmed herself. At least enough to take a few steps towards his face that was now only a few feet off the ground.

"Amun? That is your name...isn't it?" She asked again, not louder than a whisper. Almost as if it were taboo to do so. Amun slowly nodded his head. "Mierda...it's true. You..you are real." The statement caused Amun to tilt his head in an expression of confusion. Thankfully Alex noticed and gathered her thought to explain.

"You...you appeared on the internet a few years back, in the middle of a populated city. Everyone said that it was fake, it was a conspiracy theory, it was aliens from outer space. Anything to try an explain what had happened. Honestly, it was easy to believe, a three story tall alien that was writing English to a bunch of cops. What were we suppose to think." As she talked, she looked over Amun top to bottom, walking around to his sides to look over his large body. "You were nothing more than a hoax...but damn...your here." Amun noticed that her calm demeanor was just gently laced with a bit of excitement.

The sound of a car door opening caught his attention, then the sight of a small human child running towards him, followed by the other woman from the jeep. She ran after the excited child in a panicked sprint as they ran towards the monster from the sea. Amun did not see an ounce of fear from the small one, so he did not move as it ran past the woman who had been talking to him and hugged his large head. The woman in front of him gasped and reached out in terror, probably thinking her child was about to be eaten.

He moved slow, trying not to scare anyone and to show that he mean no one any harm. He let the child continue his hug until the woman from the jeep slowly approached and pealed him from Amun. The king noticed her shaking body as she approached him, he could not blame her, but he felt a bit hurt. He didn't like being the cause of so much fear.

Once the child was secure, the family within each other arms, Amun stayed still, wanting them to make the first move again. To everyone's surprise, it was the child that asked the first question.

" Extraterrestre! Did you find her! Did you find your friend?" Amun was a bit shocked that these people seemed to know so much about his life. The woman had said that the internet seemed to be working on stories of him. He would not be surprised if some very computer savvy people had found out some details about the giant alien that terrorized a city. Amun pushed that to the back of his mind, it was a problem for a different day. He turned his crowned head towards the child, and with his tail blade, replied to him.

"FOUND MY QUEEN." He wrote in the soft sand and the family read the message. It was the mother from the jeep that responded, he words quiet and almost sad.

"Jolene." She then looked into the eyeless face of the monster before her. "I remember a name, Jolene. Was that her?" Amun felt a bit of shock at the name, but kept it to himself and wrote his response.

"JOLENE KILLED. EMILIA IS QUEEN." Once again the family read the message. The two older woman looked to one another.

"That's right! They found the body of the girl, she had been shot. Or so the truck driver had told everyone. But they said that it was some company that had done it. What were they called...Do you remember Alex? It was something land? Hayland, Co-land? No that's not it..." She asked. Amun took note of the woman's name.

"Weyland? The same outsiders that came from across the ocean? Sophie, those men are monsters. They are the ones that have been destroying the jungle lately." The second woman, Alex, replied. Amun needed to jump in, so he made a quick gesture with his tail to get their attention. Once Alex and Sophie were looking at him, he wrote.

"WHERE? MUST FIND LAB." The message granted him some confused looks.

"Lab? I don't know about a lab, all I know is that they have been tearing down trees, re-routing rivers and taking people from town to do simple jobs. I don't think anyone has seen an actual lab. Kinda weird actually." Sophie said. She gave Amun an idea.

"PEOPLE WITH JOBS. WHERE?"

"Where are they? They get taken by a big truck every morning, that's all we know. "She said with a laugh." They come back and are not allowed to talk about their work." Her tone changed dramatically as she talked. "When...when people do, they go missing. So...so no one talks about it. To many people have disappeared." Amun could tell that she had lost someone close, the color of her pheromones gave it away.

"FIND. DESTROY. WORKERS WILL LEAD." The two woman whispered among themselves for a moment after seeing the message. Amun watched as the child looked to him and smiled. Amun attempted to pull back his lips in a more human type smile, the giggle from the child told him he had done a horrible job. At least he was not afraid of him mouth full of teeth. Alex, looked back to Amun once she had finished chatting with her wife.

"Find the trucks, it's the only way to get there. But I'm warning you now, they usually have people with guns so no one can follow. I don't think you will be able to follow them very well, being the size you are." Alex told him.

"WILL BE FINE. TRUCKS?"

"Like we said, they show up every morning in town. If you follow this road back to the highway, then head north for about an hour, our town is there. You can't miss it." Amun stood, bowed his head and turned to enter the forest, he had enough information to continue their hunt.

"Amun, wait! We can help!" Alex, once again, stopped him from leaving. He turned to face her, rather curious as to what she thought she could do. He did not need anyone else involved in his problems, and would not be able to let anyone else get hurt. He ignored her and continued towards the forest.

"Please! They took my father!" That made the king stop. The statement hit him harder than he thought it would have. Perhaps it was the reminder of his dead family that stopped him, or the image of Jolene, dead in his hands on the cold mountain road. He did not know. However, he knew the pain of losing love ones to this company. He let loose a loud huff of air and turned back towards the family.

He looked to the child that they now held, he then looked to the jeep that held their second little one, then to the adults. No, he would not let them get involved. He could not break up a family because of his adventure to save Jolene. he would not be able to live with himself. Alex, with tears in her face, had taken a few steps towards the king. Perhaps ready to chase the beast down if he had actually left, or maybe just to emphasize her point. Either way, he could not allow her to come.

"NO. HAVE FAMILY. STAY SAFE." Once Amun finished writing the message, he wasted no time and took off into the dense forest.

He made his way through the large canopy of trees and vegetation, it was easier to run through than most of the forest back at home. There was a lot more room to maneuver between tree trunks while still having cover from the umbrella created by the trees. It did not take him long to catch up with his hive, where he found Emilia playing with their daughters. He listened as one after another expressed their excitement with being in such a tropical jungle.

"Father! It's so nice here! I love how hot it is!" Dana told him as he approached.

"I could do without it, it's too hot on my head." Erin replied as she hid in the shadow of a large plant. Emilia looked to Amun as he came near her.

"What was that about then?" She asked, he could tell that she was not thrilled about being left out of the loop. He would, of course, fill her in about everything.

"Just making friends with the locals. I found out something that might help us out." He told his queen. Amun reached down and picked up Erin who wanted to be held. He gladly lifted his daughter and held her tight in his hands.

"O? And what might that be?" She asked.

"I'll tell you on the way, we have a bit of a walk ahead of us." She tilted her large crown at him. "Come my queen, let's get going." He said as he started to move off. He had kept track of where the road from the beach had been and started moving parallel with it. It would be a long walk indeed.